Held Hostage
by seongmi
Summary: How will Ranma react when there is no way for him to help his loved ones?


Hello! I know I should be working on Starry Night, but this idea popped into my head and I just had to get it out. I hope you guys like it!  
Insert standard disclaimer here..  
Held Hostage  
  
Part One  
The empty house was quiet, too quiet in fact for Kasumi's tastes. Over the past few years she had gotten quite use to all the activity and noise that followed Ranma. At least when there was a lot of noise she knew that everyone was all right, the quiet was just a little unnerving. Bad things normally came in the quiet moments.  
  
Finally the quiet got to be too much for the docile homemaker, so she turned on the little television that she kept tucked out of the way on the counter in the kitchen. Sounds filtered in and out of her consciousness as she quickly flipped though the channels, searching for something to watch. Nothing caught her attention though, that is until she flipped to the last channel. The screen was all black with big red letters splayed across it, blinking the words breaking news. Quickly she turned up the volume, grabbed her cup of tea, and settled down at the table to watch the impending report.  
  
The news caster seated behind the desk had a no-nonsense air about her, almost as if she was a personification of the report to come. For several seconds she sat in silence, with her dark head bowed, scanning the copy of the report that had just been handed to her. As soon as she knew what needed to be said, she raised her head and stared right into the camera,  
  
"Good afternoon, we are interrupting the regular scheduled programming to bring you this breaking news report. Just a few minutes ago, channel nine news learned that three felons have escaped from the federal penitentiary in Nerima district. These felons are assumed to be armed and dangerous. Nerima police are asking all people who think they have seen the individuals to immediately call the authorities."  
"Oh my!" Kasumi muttered as she listened to the report. As soon as the newscaster was finished giving the brief report, she quickly got out of her chair and turned the offending box off. Watching television had been a bad idea. Now all she could see in her mind were images of a mad man with wild hair wreaking havoc on the streets of the neighborhood. They were so distressing to her that she closed her eyes in a vain attempt to picture something more pleasant. After a few seconds she regained her composure, remembering that Ranma would not let any harm befall the family; he would always take care of them.  
  
"I'm leaving," Kasumi heard Akane call out from the foyer. The need to protect her little sister from the escaped convicts filled Kasumi, causing her to quickly jump from her chair and head for the front door, in a vain attempt to catch Akane before she left. The door slammed before she even reached the corner.  
******************************************************  
Akane pulled the collar of her coat up around her face as she walked down the street towards the mall. Today wasn't exactly a day she would have normally been out in, temperatures in the single digits did not exactly suit her, and if she had her way she would still be in bed. Christmas was right around the corner though, and she needed some extra cash to buy a special gift for Ranma. This was, after all, their third Christmas together, and the first one after the failed wedding. She wanted to give him a gift that would show him how much she appreciated everything he had sacrificed for her, and how deep her feelings ran for him.  
  
The job wasn't a difficult one, in fact Akane found it down right enjoyable. A lot of her co-workers often complained about the job, but she never really could understand why. She knew that watching young children could sometimes be demanding, but it was never as awful as some people made it out to be; besides their little faces were so adorable. Besides that, there were so many fun things that a person could do with the kids, from cute crafts to board games. This wasn't really like a job; this was like getting paid to play.  
  
Within minutes, Akane found herself at the entrance to the building that she worked in. It was just a small building really that was nestled on the main strip in the heart of the shopping district, looking somewhat dwarfed by the buildings that surrounded it. That didn't matter though, the smaller building left ample space for a playground to be put out back. Akane found herself out there quite often on the few days that the weather permitted. She was, after all, a very physically active individual that loved to be on the move whenever possible.  
  
"Good afternoon," Akane said to a lady who had just walked in with a little girl that reminder her of Ukyou, "I am Akane Tendo. How may I help you?"  
  
"Do you have room for one more?" the lady asked. "I have a lot of shopping I need to finish by tonight."  
  
"We sure do m'am," Akane said with a smile, "The charge is five dollars an hour for a maximum of four hours. Please fill out this medical form, and sign your daughter in on this one."  
  
"Thank you, you don't know how much this means to me," the lady said as she handed Akane the finished forms and headed for the door. "I wrote down my cell phone incase Ayami gives you any problems." With a wave, she was gone.  
  
"Come on Ayami," Akane said, taking the little girls hand, "lets go make a beautiful present for you to give to you mommy." They made their way to a table at the front of the room, and got to work.  
*********************************************  
"I'm home," Ranma called as he walked through the front door of the Tendo home, pausing briefly to remove his shoes before heading to the kitchen for a snack.  
  
Carefully, Ranma picked through the contents of the refrigerator in search of something edible. After living with the Tendos for a few years, he had learned the basic necessity of avoiding certain foods at all cost; specifically those made by a certain well meaning tomboy. He really did admire her efforts at becoming a better cook; he just wished that she wouldn't insist that he be the test-taster.  
  
"Thank goodness you're here, Ranma!" Kasumi said as she walked into the kitchen. "Akane left for work a little while ago, and I am really worried about her. Could you go down there and make sure everything is all right for me?"  
  
Ranma wasn't sure what was bothering the girl, but he was never able to tell her no. Besides that, he hadn't been around much the past few days, and he really wanted to talk to Akane. Ever since the failed wedding they had been discussing ways that he could break off the other engagements. He had just finished talking with Ukyou, but everything hadn't gone as smoothly as they had hoped. Ukyou was extremely mad at him. Losing her friendship was not something that he savored; he really needed to talk to someone about the whole thing.  
  
"What's going on, Kasumi?" Ranma asked around the food in his mouth.  
  
"I'm probably just being silly," Kasumi replied a little smile, "but I saw a report on the news about some escaped felons in this area, and I just want to be sure that nothing happens to Akane."  
  
"Sure, no problem," Ranma said as he swallowed the last of his food. Even though she was smiling, he could tell that Kasumi was really worried about her little sister. He wanted to tell her not to worry, but he refused to make light of her concern. Akane had improved dramatically since they had started training together, so Ranma didn't worry about her as much anymore. While he was fairly certain that there was nothing wrong, he pulled on his shoes and left the house anyways.  
****************************************************  
A cold wind burst through the room sending papers flying everywhere. Akane got up to greet whoever had just walked through the door, only to stop short when she saw them. Three gruff looking men in orange jumpers were standing in the front of the room, waving guns at all of them.  
  
"Quietly move to the back of the room!" the tallest of the three shouted while the other two closed the blinds on the front windows.  
  
Akane realized that the three armed men had made one crucial error when they ordered them to the back of the building, they hadn't counted on there being a back door. Quickly, she got the attention of the other two workers in the room, motioning for them to crawl out of the back door and make their escape. She silently watched as one-by-one the teachers hoisted the children over the fence and into the alleyway that ran behind the building. Akane watched the three men closely, hoping that she would be able to tell when they were going to be the focus of their attention again. After to short an amount of time had passed, the gunmen stopped looking out the front windows. When Akane saw this, she shut the door as silently as possible and turned her body to block the window. By the time the thugs realized what had happened, the only hostages left in the building were Akane and ten children.  
"Where are the rest of the hostages," the stout man said, threatening to hit Akane with the butt of his gun. His rage only intensified when Akane only smiled at him, a blank look in her eyes.  
  
"Tell him now," the tall one demanded as he walked up to her. When she still refused to answer the man slapped her across the face.  
  
Akane looked back up at him, desperately trying to keep her countenance. She wanted the men to think that she was just a ditzy girl that would be very compliant. "Oh," she finally said with a big smile, "do you mean my co- workers? They said it was time for the children to play outside."  
  
"Poor girl, she doesn't even realize she's been ditched," the third man said with a snort. The other two laughed quietly at the statement.  
  
"Let them go," the tall man said. "The cops already know where we are. Sato, please make sure these hostages don't escape." At the command, the stout man started to move some furniture in front of the back door.  
****************************************************************  
Several police cars raced by Ranma as he walked down the street, causing an uneasy feeling to form in his gut. The news Kasumi had told him about the three escaped felons came back to him, filling him with dread. Hoping that for once his instincts were wrong, he started running towards Akane's job. He wasn't sure what he was going to find when he got there, but he was prepared for the worst.  
  
The area around the building the daycare was in had been taped off by the police, several armed officers stood around the perimeter, telling on lookers to go home. Ranma saw one of Akane's co-workers talking with a police officer while the other girl tried to keep all of the kids in line. Frantically, he searched the group for Akane, but he couldn't see her anywhere. He spared a glance towards the building, refusing to believe that she was still in there, what he saw made his heart stop. The blind covering one of the front windows flew open, revealing an armed man in an orange suit, his arm was wrapped around Akane's throat. From the looks of the man that held her, Ranma knew that Akane could easily overpower him to gain her freedom. He waited, ready to spring into action to assist her, but she never made her move.  
  
"We have ten little kids in here along with this pretty little thing," the thug said, tightening his hold on Akane for effect. "My associates and I have prepared a list of ten demands that we want met. We will release one hostage for each demand that is met."  
  
"This one stays with me," the man said as he shouldered his weapon and took out a switchblade. With a flick of his wrist, he knicked Akane's cheek enough to cause her to bleed. "I have grown quite accustomed to her."  
  
When Ranma saw the blood start to trickle down his fiancée's face, he saw red, and tried to cross the police barrier. He never made it though, two armed officers grabbed his arms and pulled him short of his goal. He watched as the blind lowered, taking away his view of Akane.  
  
"Do you know her?" one of the officers asked him.  
  
"Yeah, she's my fiancée," Ranma replied, for once not ashamed to openly admit to their bond.  
  
"Look, I know you want to help her, but you can't. Those men are armed with sub machine guns. The minute you go storming in, the felons will kill all of them," the officer said, letting go of Ranma's arm. "I'll take you over to where our commander is, and you can wait there."  
  
To all the world, Ranma appeared as a man who had given up all hope as he quietly followed the officer to the far side of the line. That wasn't the case though. When he was told that there was nothing he could do to help Akane, he had been struck to the core. He wasn't use to feeling helpless, but he realized that the officer was right; there was no way he could risk the lives of the children. Now he was merely bidding his time while formulating a plan. He would get Akane away from that thug before the day was over.  
  
Ranma waited patiently as the day wore on. Several of the demands had been met already, and, true to their word, when each demand was met a child was pushed out the front door. There were only three children left in the building now, and he still hadn't thought of a way to get Akane out of the building alive. He knew it was a long shot, but if he had some help, then he could get her out. All he had to do was get one or more of the gang to help him out.  
**********************************************************  
"What's going on, Ranma-honey?" Ukyou asked, stopping Ranma as he was on his way to the pay phone.  
  
"Great! You're here!" Ranma said, pulling her behind him as he walked. "I really need your help. The escaped felons are holding Akane in that building over there, we need to get her out."  
  
Ukyou pulled away from Ranma and turned around. The talk they had earlier was still fresh in her mind, hurting her. When he had told her that he loved Akane more than life itself, her heart had nearly broke. Now here he was, expecting her to help him save that girl.  
  
"I don't think so, Ranma." Ukyou replied as she turned away from him. "I heard that they're armed with machine guns. I have no wish to die today."  
  
"Hey, listen," Ranma said urgently. "You don't actually think that I would let you get hurt do you? I just need you to take out one of the guys while I shield you girls from the other two."  
  
"So, you're planning on sacrificing your life?" Ukyou said incredulously. "I will be no part of this!"  
  
Ranma looked over to the front door of the building as the last of the children were released. He needed to get in there now before they made their escape.  
  
"Look," he said, taking Ukyou back over to the police line, "I don't plan on anyone getting killed. All I want to do is get Akane back."  
  
Ukyou stared at the building across the street from her. She hated to admit it, but, even though she knew how much Akane meant to Ranma, she didn't want to help save her. If she did, there would just be one more person standing between her and her happiness. On-the-other-hand, if she didn't help Ranma, he might never forgive her. What was a girl to do?  
  
As he stood behind the police lines waiting for any reassurance that Akane was fine, Ranma paced back and forth, frustrated that Ukyou was taking so long to decide. He had thought over and over of different ways he could get into the building alone to save Akane, but every one ended the wrong way. Sure he was one of the greatest martial artists in the world, but there was nothing he alone could do against three men armed with sub- machine guns. If he tried, either he or Akane would end up dead, and that was not an option, not now anyways.  
  
Suddenly, a flash of light showed on the monitor that he and the police were watching the situation from, followed by the short staccatos of machine gun fire. Quickly, Ranma glanced at the timer and noticed that time had run out. Tears began to slowly course down his face as he fell to his knees, but he didn't care, for him all time had stopped in that one moment. As an anguish he had never known before wrenched his heart, Ranma through his head back to the sky and shouted the one thing that had ever meant anything to him.  
  
"Akane!"  
\  
@----------------------  
So what did you guys think? Let me know! If you want the second part to see how it ends, you have got to let me know. So review you guys!  
  
Oh, by-the-way, I didn't proof read this, so let me apologize now for the mistakes..sorry! ^_~ 


End file.
